1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to electrically powered vehicles and relates specifically to an electrically powered mower with a removable, rechargeable battery tray system.
2. Prior Art
One application for the present invention is in electrically powered mowers that are used on golf courses, particularly for mowing the greens. Conventional electrically powered greens mowers utilize eight 6-volt lead-acid deep cycle batteries. Generally, one battery set of eight 6-volt batteries powers the mower for about three to five hours, or around fifteen to thirty greens. Once the battery set has discharged, if more mowing is required, the operator must either recharge the battery set, which may take eight to twelve hours, or replace the battery set with a fully charged, alternate battery set. The batteries in the battery set are anchored to the mower frame with metal or plastic hold-down brackets. To remove the batteries, the hold-down brackets as well as wiring to each battery must be removed. The process of exchanging the batteries is time consuming and is not conducive to efficiently mowing an entire golf course.